Autopsy shows girl,7, shot in the head
Southfield -- An independent autopsy found that 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot in the head, not the neck, and the Wayne County Medical Examiner has corrected the girl's cause of death.
Geoffrey Fieger said Tuesday the new findings contradict official accounts of the girl's fatal shooting by a police officer during a botched raid at Aiyana's home on the city's east side.
Fieger said the autopsy conducted by Macomb County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz also offers proof that the fatal shot was fired through the home's open door -- not after an officer entered the house and had a confrontation or collision with the girl's grandmother.
"I just wonder why you keep saying it was an accident. He shot purposefully," said Fieger, who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family claiming negligence and a police cover-up.
"I'm not suggesting that he knew what he was shooting at. I'm telling you that he pulled the trigger and shot into the house. That's not an accident. Why he did it, I can't tell you. What he was aiming at, I can't tell you, but I can tell you it's not an accident."
County officials confirmed the death certificate issued five days after Aiyana's May 16 death was corrected Friday to reflect the new findings. The original certificate issued on May 21 listed Aiyana's only injury as a gunshot wound to the neck. A county spokesman said Tuesday the death certificate was issued prior to the final written conclusions of the official autopsy, which remain unavailable to the public.
Spitz was hired by the family to analyze the death. He determined in his report that a bullet entered through the top of the girl's head, passed through her brain, exited through her neck and grazed her chest.
"The day after her death, you began to receive disinformation from the Detroit Police Department," said Fieger.
Officials from the Detroit Police and Michigan State Police, which is investigating the girl's death, didn't return calls Tuesday. Police have said the fatal shot came from the gun of Officer Joseph Weekley.
Police raided the home on Lillibridge a block from Mack Avenue in search of a murder suspect. They arrested Chauncey Owens in a simultaneous raid on an upstairs flat in the same building. The homes have separate addresses and entrances. Owens was bound over for trial Tuesday in the May 14 slaying of 17-year-old Jerean Blake in a parking lot not far from Aiyana's home.
Fieger claimed the findings offer proof of a police cover-up and attempt to lay blame for the girl's death on her grandmother.
Mertilla Jones, 46, has said a stun grenade thrown by police through a front window about 12:30 a.m. caused her to tumble from the living room sofa where she and her granddaughter were sleeping. She has said she never touched the officer, but yelled at him, "You f'ed up. Gone and killed my grandbaby." She said another officer scooped up the bleeding girl and ran with her outside. The girl was rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead an hour later.
Mertilla Jones was arrested and her family was told she had tried to grab the officer's gun. She was released about 12 hours later after police announced the two may have collided in the dark.
She said Tuesday that animations of the scene prepared by Fieger's office were accurate with her recollections of the events. Fieger said he assumes police recovered the spent bullet from somewhere inside the house, which could also help prove the trajectory of the shot.
The new autopsy "completely disproves this false claim that there was some kind of struggle inside the house," Fieger said.
Feiger also backed away from earlier claims he made about the flash grenade causing burns to the girl's body. On Tuesday, Fieger said the girl's blanket was burned, but not the girl.
Soon after the tragedy, Fieger said he was shown a video recording of officers gathering on the front porch that showed the shot was fired from outside the home. He said Spitz's analysis confirms that scenario. Fieger said he only saw the video but has assurances he will be given a copy.
He implied Tuesday that the video isn't the same as recordings made of the raid by a camera crew from the A&E network for the reality show "The First 48."
All of the video recordings were made from outside the home, and Fieger said the one he was shown clearly shows a "muzzle flash" from an officer's gun after he kicked open the door and before he entered the house.
He said he is uncertain what the A&E video might show, but he challenged Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans to show the video to the public. The show's tapes reportedly were given to Michigan State Police investigators.
Fieger said he wants the city to apologize to the family and, "secondly, I want them to tell the truth."
Aiyana's father, Charles Jones, seated next to Fieger at the press conference Tuesday, said, "The truth."
He said nothing else.
From The Detroit News:
http://detnews.com/article/20100602/METRO01/6020364/1409/rss36#ixzz0pg2YXf49
From The Detroit News:
http://detnews.com/article/20100602/METRO01/6020364/1409/rss36#ixzz0pg2UfRBp